


Old Wounds & New Flames

by Nitrobot



Series: VenomCat Stories [4]
Category: Marvel (Comics), Spider-Man (Comicverse), Venom (Comics)
Genre: Closure, F/M, Reconciliation, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-06-26 04:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19760167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nitrobot/pseuds/Nitrobot
Summary: Peter meets with Felicia, and tries not to sound too much like a jealous ex-boyfriend when he asks why, why why why of all the people she could have replaced him with, she had to chose Venom.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I did Peter dirty at the end of BWRAO, so this is my attempt to give him another chance to explain his view and try to be a good friend to Felicia. Cause if you can't trust your criminal ex who tried to kill you at least once before, who *can* you trust?

Strangely enough, getting Felicia to agree to meet with him was the easy part. The  _ hard _ part was finding her to ask in the first place. Pete knew where she was living, sure (since all it took was spotting her one night and following her there. It helped to know where potential supervillains went to sleep, y’know. Hero tip of the day). But going anywhere near that place with even the slightest chance that  _ Eddie _ was there too? Out of the question. No freaking way. He’d rather spend an evening having dinner with the Osbornes. He’d rather face off against the Sinister Six- or… Savage Six, or whatever the hell they were calling themselves now. Hell, he’d even take a Terrible Twelve over going anywhere near Venom. He’d rather get his body hijacked again- well, actually, he wouldn’t go  _ that _ far. 

Point was, going near her apartment again wasn’t an option. He was certain that the symbiote would have been able to sense him if he even walked past the building, traces of itself probably still tingling in his blood after all these years, and that alone would have been enough excuse for Venom to hunt him down and kick his ass (regardless of whether or not Felicia would have approved of it).

She at least seemed to still be working alone when it came to robbing places. But Peter couldn’t rely on using burglary alerts on the police comms to find her, cause Felicia only ever set those off when she knew she would be far away by the time anyone else got there. 

So, the only strategy left was to just do his patrols and hope he got lucky one night. Though, especially nowadays, luck was the last thing that favored him where Black Cat was concerned- that favored  _ anyone _ who wasn’t Venom, it seemed. Maybe he was immune to her bad luck, just like he was immune to Peter’s spider-sense. Wouldn’t have surprised him- hell, after fending off the collapse of a spider-centered multiverse and finding old ghosts still living on different Earths, nothing really managed to nowadays. 

But that was something to save for another therapy session. Right now, a few days after finally finding Felicia (not on the midnight rooftops, as he’d expected to, but outside a Starbucks with a hot chocolate in hand), Peter was having enough trouble scripting his side of the one to come. He’d turned up at the café with an hour to spare before the time he’d hurriedly arranged with Felicia, hoping to use it to make his case just a little more convincing, if it even could be. 

But, of course, she was already there waiting for him outside. Who else in the city had such blindingly white hair under the age of forty? His senses didn’t even warn him until it was too late for him to turn back, and his shock lasted as long as it took for him to exhale. A lesson he’d quickly learned a long time ago; if you gasped every time Felicia shocked you, then you’d be too breathless to ever keep up with her. 

As Peter sat opposite her, neither of them mentioned how early they both were. She didn’t mention how tired he looked, and he didn’t mention how gorgeous she still looked (nor the fact that the newspaper on her table had her on the front page with her new boyfriend, the whole reason that Pete was here with her). She wore sunglasses, but he knew exactly how her eyes would be tinkling with her unique brand of mischief. Like a private joke about how little they now trusted each other, despite everything. She spoke before he could even open his mouth, her tongue already warmed up by now (if the other two empty glasses on the table were anything to go by).

“I always liked this spot. Seems like the only place in this city that never changes.” She had another glass loaded with chocolate before her. Somehow, her upper lip stayed pristine as she sipped. Peter suddenly felt self-conscious about how empty his hands were- he didn’t even have his web shooters under the cuffs of his jacket. He’d been hoping he wouldn’t need them for once. 

“Yeah… think I once stopped Rhino trying to charge through the front window.” He nodded towards it, and he was half-expecting to see someone in the reflection about to fly right through him in a shower of glass- an even more insane Green Goblin on a new glider, or the Vulture swooping in, or some twisted fusion of the two. But all he saw in the window was himself, his permanent panda-eyes broadcasting just how little sleep superheroes were allowed. Though, for all he knew, Felicia’s could have looked the same under the glasses. Maybe that was why she wore them, other than just not wanting to be recognised from all her recent news coverage… just one of the hundreds of potential ‘maybes’. He could have exhausted himself spending all day analysing every inch of her, every crease in her half-hidden face and twitch of her lips, and come up with a hundred different theories about her and the many ‘whys’ and ‘why nots’ of her existence. He’d done so plenty of times before, . But that wasn’t why he was here. 

He watched his reflection’s mouth open, but by the time he turned to face her she once again took any words right out of it. 

“Why did you really want to meet, Peter?” Felicia moved her glass aside, tenting her fingers under the point of her chin as she leaned forward, framing her indulgent smile. He couldn’t tell how genuine it was- it had been so long since he’d last seen it. At first he was grateful to just get to the point, but that was before he remembered he  _ still  _ didn’t know how to bring it up. The whole reason he’d hoped to dance around it a bit more, stick to just small talk and old-friend pleasantries for now, was to give himself just a few minutes more prep time. 

But Felicia; astute, eccentric, wicked Felicia, didn’t have time for any of that.

“It’s about Eddie, isn’t it?” she asked, under a single raised eyebrow. 

Of course it was. What else,  _ who else _ , could this have been about? Peter allowed himself a sigh as he tried to quickly restructure his plea, trying not to look at the all-too-fitting newspaper folded at her elbow. Scrap the opening statement, just get right into the facts. Like how he saw Daredevil and She-Hulk manage so many times before (maybe he should have just asked one of them to do it for him… he was pretty sure Matt at least owed him a favor). The waitress finally arrived to take his order (decaf coffee- he’d promised MJ he’d try and cut down on the caffeine so he wouldn’t keep her awake by pacing up and down the walls) and to give him just a few more seconds to ready himself. Felicia silently watched him fluster from behind the impenetrable tint of her glasses. When they were alone again, Pete just forced it out.

“I still think you’re making a huge mistake with him. And I know, I know how it sounds coming from me, but I’m not saying it as an ex-boyfriend. I’m saying it as a friend.  _ Your  _ friend.” He didn’t even need to be a friend to tell her how she could do so much better, how she  _ deserved  _ better, than Eddie of all people. Hell, she’d be much better off single in any case, if  _ this  _ was the alternative she’d chosen. 

Felicia had raised her glass to her mouth, and she scoffed a harsh laugh around the rim. “Some friend you’ve been so far.” She was about to tilt the glass back to drink, before she hesitated and set it back down slowly. “That… wasn’t fair of me. Sorry.”

“No, no, you’re right.” Peter had come prepared for one thing at least, the fact that Felicia still hated him. Not enough to try and kill him anymore, of course; she was far too subtle for that. But enough that she’d be dating one of his worst enemies just to spite him… she’d done it before, after all. But this time, she’d chosen someone who could hurt her even more than she could hurt him. And he absolutely had to stop it from happening- because it would, inevitably. For all her charms and grace, not even Felicia could stop Venom from doing what he always did.

“I had a…  _ lot  _ of fires to put out after the whole Doc Ock body-hijack thing,” Peter went on, “and… well, honestly, I thought you’d kill me if I ever tried to get close enough to explain. So, I just tried to stay out of your way. I… I guess I thought that the Felicia I knew was gone for good.”

She was stirring her drink with what he thought was a thick straw, until she pulled it back out and bit off the end of it. The biscuit crunched slowly behind the firm line of her mouth. 

“I guess she is, in a way,” she admitted, using the rest of the biscuit to soak up the last of her hot chocolate. Peter cautiously let the vice around his lungs relax. He couldn’t tell if she really accepted the excuse, or the unspoken apology within it, but the fact that she didn’t throw it back in his face or storm off was a step forward as far as he was concerned. He was starting to feel a lot better about leaving the webshooters at home.

“I think you’re right,” he said, lowering his voice. “Cause that Felicia would know better than to get involved with  _ Venom  _ of all people.”

“Peter-”

“Just hear me out, okay, please?” His coffee appeared in front of him now, with a clink of mug against saucer, and he allowed himself a deep sip before-

“Ah ah ah, hot! Hot!” He sucked in cold air to soothe his burning tongue, while Felicia tried (and failed) to hold in snorts of laughter.

“You were saying, Pete?” she asked once she’d reigned herself in and Peter had recovered sufficiently from scalding himself. 

“I was  _ saying… _ ” He sighed, gingerly pushing his cup aside so he wouldn’t be distracted (or burned again). “I know Eddie  _ seems _ like he’s better now, but I’ve seen this time and time again. It  _ never _ ends well. San Francisco, Maximum Carnage, Anti-Venom,” he counted off the many incidents on his hand, “his story keeps changing in every way except the ending. Like, Christ, do you know what happened to his ex-wife?”

Felicia’s face hardened, each feature gaining a steel edge that matched her voice. “Yes. Yes, I do. And I know what happened to  _ him _ because of it.”

Peter stalled. Even though her eyes were hidden, he could tell when she was glaring, and she was glaring  _ hard. _ He’d thought he could appeal to blissful ignorance, but if she already knew everything...

“And do you remember what he did to  _ you _ ?” he asked, scratching at his nose for a not-so-subtle hint. Felicia too found her hand going to her own in a mirror of Peter, but it didn’t stay there long as she twitched it with a scowl. 

“Of course I remember, Pete,” she muttered, still scrunching her nose at him like a very pissed-off rabbit even when she turned away from him. “Not that you cared much back then.”

Peter blinked, as his eyes darted everywhere that was away from her face. Eventually they settled on staring down at his coffee. At least he couldn’t see himself, or his guilt, reflected in it. “I… I didn’t know about…”

“I know you didn’t.” Felicia let out a sigh before she let herself face him again, which only made him feel even more guilty. “But, anyway. It wasn’t  _ just _ Eddie who did it. And I’ve forgiven them both.”

_ ‘Unlike you, who can’t even bring himself to forgive one of them.’  _ She didn’t say it, but Peter still heard it loud and clear in his head. But it was wrong.

“Look,” he leaned forward to try and close some distance between them, and so he could keep his voice down. “I’m willing to believe at least that the symbiote isn’t as dangerous as it used to be. Hell, I saw how it was with Flash, I  _ know _ that it can be good if it’s with someone who knows how to use it.” He thought it was a pretty good place to get back on track from, but as soon as he stopped speaking Felicia looked at him like he’d just suggested they go skinny-dipping under the Brooklyn bridge. 

“How to  _ use-?” _ She broke herself off with a scoff of disgust, pulling back as far as her chair would allow. “Peter, do you even hear yourself?”

“What? What did I do wrong now?” He hadn’t seen her this incensed since he dared to save her life during Carnage’s last city-wide rampage. Though, he supposed he was trying to do the same thing now. But that didn’t explain how she would look so repulsed, just by admitting that the symbiote was  _ good _ ! Was it because he brought up Flash? He sat there, genuinely bewildered, while Felicia shook her head.

“Even after all this time,” she was hissing at him, “you  _ still  _ see the symbiote as nothing more than a tool! Like she’s a… an object, or something you can just shove in a box and forget about until it’s convenient to use her!” She scoffed again, refusing to face him while Pete was just trying to get over the sudden linguistic whiplash that hit him.

“Did... you just call it a  _ she _ ?” he asked. Felicia was definitely talking about the symbiote… but as far as he knew it had never been male or female. It was alien goo, how  _ could  _ it be either of those? She must have known something he didn’t, because she still looked furious when she forced herself around again.

“Yes, I did,” she told him. “That symbiote is as much a woman, as much a  _ living being  _ as I am,” she pointed at herself for emphasis, “and the fact that you’re even surprised at that just goes to show how little you really think of her.”

This was definitely not something he’d been prepared for dealing with. He’d been ready for convincing Felicia that Eddie was evil, not debating the sentience or gender of his alien. Though… he supposed she had a point. The symbiote had been on Earth so long that of course it would adopt some human traits. He tried to correct course, while he still had Felicia willing to be sitting near him. 

“Okay… okay.” He held out his hands, palms facing her, to fully admit that he was wrong (which usually worked for placating MJ). She’d be able to see he didn’t come armed, at least. “The symbiote is not  _ just _ a suit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant…  _ she _ needs to be with someone who can bring out the best in her.” That much was true, as far as he was concerned. Felicia’s scowl softened, inch by inch, until her lips were a tight line instead of a jagged one. She balanced her head on her hand as her arm leaned on the table, tugging on a strand of white hair from behind her ear like she always used to do when she was trying to distract herself from her emotions. She was still angled away from him when she finally spoke again, a question this time while he dared another sip of his coffee.

“Someone like you?” 

“No!” He put a hand over his mouth to stop him spluttering over the table. “No, no, I… does she still hate me for that?” 

For some reason, Felicia found it funny that he asked. Or maybe she was smiling for some other reason he’d never know about. 

“Only a little,” she answered. “But, honestly? I think you could have put her on the right path, if you were there from the start.”

_ ‘She’s right, Pete. Venom is all your fault. But, you knew that already.’  _ He gulped from his mug for an excuse to avoid eye-contact, and to stop himself snapping at that accusing voice in his head that came along with his spider-senses. 

“But we’re not here to talk about you, or the symbiote,” Felicia said quietly, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned towards him- making the effort to close the chasm between them, before they were completely severed from each other. “We’re here to talk about Eddie. And the fact is, Pete, you don’t know what we went through together. After all, how could you? You weren’t there. And even if you were, you probably still wouldn’t get it. You don’t know him like I know him, and you never will.” She shrugged and leaned back in her chair, waiting for him to prove her wrong and cut the cord between them, or try and pull her back over to the side of reason. Peter didn’t feel cut out for either job, but he’d be damned if he didn’t at least try to help her. 

“That’s cause he doesn’t let anyone else that isn’t an  _ alien _ in,” he pointed out. “And, I’m sorry, Felicia, but I don’t think you’ll be the exception.”

She scoffed, a rough burst of air blowing past her clenched teeth. If it wasn’t for the table between them, he was sure she would have charged right up to him by now to try and claw his face off.

“You know why that is?” She didn’t give him time to answer. “Cause everyone else,  _ especially  _ you, has done nothing but beat him down whenever he tries to pick himself up. I  _ am  _ the exception, Peter. I wish I wasn’t, I  _ wish _ that there were more people alive today that he could trust, but it is what it is. And I’m not going to treat that lightly.”

“You wanna talk about treating things  _ lightly _ ?” Now it was Peter’s turn to scoff. “Okay, how about we mention all the lives he’s ruined? All the lives he’s taken, with  _ and  _ without the symbiote? Whatever he’s told you, Felicia, whatever story he’s fed you or… symbiote mind tricks or whatever it is making you think any of this is a good idea, none of that changes the simple fact that he is a  _ murderer _ .”

Felicia only had to take the time to blink once (or so he assumed she did behind those glasses), before she was able to counter him. “So am I. I killed Carnage, after all. Does that mean I don’t deserve to be loved?”

Peter stumbled, as his train of thought violently derailed and crashed somewhere in the pit of his skull. He always forgot that Felicia was as much a villain, had as much  _ potential _ to be a villain, as anyone else he found on the streets. It wasn’t a serious question, he knew, and yet… he had to answer, else there’d be nothing left to convince her.

“That’s... not what I’m saying, I… I mean, you’re not the same as him-”

“Yes, I am,” she stated as a passive, weary acceptance soaked into her voice with no room left for any argument. “Don’t pull that double standards bullshit on me. And I know it’s hard to hear, cause you spent a long time thinking that I was like you, and… even longer  _ wanting _ me to be like you. You can’t help but see the best in almost everyone, even if it isn’t there anymore.” Though her eyes were already hidden she bowed her head away from him, as a sad smile struggled to break free. “It’s one of the things I loved about you...” It came out so quiet that it was more like a whisper, so that Peter wondered if she even said it. He figured that was the intended effect. 

“Do you love him?” he asked her, keeping his voice soft to cushion the blow against the both of them. He didn’t know if the answer would tell him anything different, if it would convince him of anything or change his mind, but… he had to know. He had to know that she was at least happy with how things had ended up for her, before he could leave her with a conscience that wouldn’t haunt him. 

She looked to the front page at her elbow, showing her and Venom, the man and his alien, printed there in their signature colors. And she smiled, with no sadness this time.

“Yes. Not like how I loved you. But... that’s probably a good thing.” There was no trace of bitterness, not even anger, left in her voice. It was just a statement of facts. Nothing personal. Somehow it hurt more than if she’d still been furious at him.

“What  _ did _ you two go through?” Peter asked. “What happened that night in Central Park?” He’d never had the chance to ask her about it that morning afterwards, when he’d came barging into her apartment. At the time he’d been a little more interested in knowing why her making out with Venom was all over the Daily Bugle, and he’d been kicking himself over it ever since. Typical Pete, caring more about his ex’s love life than finding out how the hell she’d managed to apparently destroy the most evil example of alien goo in the galaxy (at least, that’s what Cletus’ corpse had confirmed). But if it took the two of them, Black Cat and Venom, to take the likes of Carnage down for good after all this time… well, as much as he hated to admit it, maybe they really weren’t so bad for each other. He tried to fend off that treasonous line of thought as he watched Felicia debate over how much to tell him. 

“It wasn’t  _ just _ that night,” she eventually said. “It was… all the ones leading up to it, too. Thinking about how to start over. The Maniac mess gave me the chance, and Eddie gave me the idea. He…” She tried to grasp for what else to say about him, sighing when she managed to find something. In just that one moment, he’d never heard her sound so content before. “He’s right for me, Pete. He  _ fits _ me, the kind of person I am... almost like I used to think you did. You say you think the symbiote should be with someone who brings out the best in her. I think I bring out the best in Eddie. He brings out the best in me. And  _ we _ bring out the best in her.” She was still smiling as she said it, and Peter almost believed her. 

“You think you can keep him good?”

“I never said that. Yours and mines definition of ‘good’ rarely ever matches up, even on good days. But… I think I can at least prove that someone other than an alien on this Godforsaken planet cares about him. You don’t know what that’s like, Pete. You two are the same in more ways than either of you know, but you’ll  _ never  _ know what it’s like to be as lonely as he was. You’ve had Aunt May, MJ, even me, we’ve all been there for you at some point. But, Eddie…” She sighed once more. “He’s a man who needs all the love he can get.”

And who better to give him it than her, one of the easiest women on Earth to fall in love with? 

She was right, too. He  _ hated  _ that she was right. He’d found out himself how much of a bad hand Eddie had been dealt, ever since he’d been born, and maybe all it really ever took was one good person to turn him around from all that. He knew what good kindness could do for someone, even just one act out of hundreds, and he’d never once thought to give any to Eddie because he’d been so convinced that the symbiote had poisoned him completely. 

But, there was someone Felicia had missed out. Someone she couldn’t even know about.

‘ _ Gwen had been there for me… and she paid the price for it.’  _ The fact that she was still alive, that a  _ version  _ of her was still alive in another world where he took her place in the ground, made no difference to him. His Gwen was, and always would be, dead, because of him. Because he hadn’t stopped Norman soon enough. How close had Felicia come to meeting the same fate that night, without him even knowing? 

...Venom was the one who kept her alive when he couldn’t. Venom, Eddie and the symbiote, were the ones who did what he found so hard to do. Keeping the ones they love safe. Christ, they really  _ did  _ love her. More than he ever could, at least. This whole time Peter had been terrified that Venom would take the place of the Goblin, and that Felicia would be just another Gwen he couldn’t save. But Venom was really just like him, just as Felicia had said. He was at his best when he was in love.

If this gorgeous kleptomaniac sitting in front of him was really the key to keeping Venom under control… well, Peter had no right to be sitting there complaining about them being together. After all, in all the weeks of VenomCat taking over the city papers he’d never once had to deal with a crime that had symbiote written all over it. Hell, he hadn’t even seen Black Cat’s usual string of robberies for months now. Maybe it wasn’t just about Felicia keeping Venom in line. Maybe  _ Venom  _ helped her be a little more noble too…

Peter bit his lip, ground his teeth, rubbed his fingers around his mug before the warmth left it completely. By the time he finished it off, it was cold and he’d forced himself to make peace with what he was about to say to her. 

“Well, Felicia…I still don’t know what the hell you can see in a guy like him-”

“I wouldn’t expect you to,” she added.

“But, despite that…” He rubbed the back of his neck, keeping his hand there to stop his head looking away from her. “If you’re so sure about this... then I’m happy for you. Really. And I hope you’re right about him, I  _ want  _ you to be right. Just… be careful. Please. That’s all I’m saying.”

Felicia cocked her head at him, a spitting image of her criminal namesake as she seemed to measure his sincerity, and smiled at what she saw. It wasn’t as sad as the other one had been.

“Don’t worry about me,” she told him. “I’m just one soul out of the millions out there who actually need you. I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” he said, completely and utterly honest. “But, even so… can we at least swap numbers? Just in case anything happens?” If he couldn’t convince her to get away from Venom (which he spectacularly failed at- hell, he couldn’t even convince  _ himself  _ about it anymore), then he resolved to at least find a way to contact her that didn’t boil down to getting lucky- especially since she could so easily hide herself by skewing the luck against him. She must have known that from how she looked over at him as she gathered her things, eyebrows shooting up over the edge of her glasses. 

“If that’s what it’ll take for you to stop being so paranoid… hand over your phone.” She only took a few seconds to tap her number in, before she handed it back over. “There. And don’t you dare call just to check up on me. Only for emergencies.”

“Okay. I promise.” Pete had to chuckle at the cat emoji she’d put it under. Despite her warning, he’d text her later just to make sure it was actually her number. She was sure to be expecting it anyway, since she still knew him so well. 

She was standing up now, bag over her shoulder and jacket over her arms. Everything that had to be said, that  _ could  _ be said, was over and done with. Now, as always, she had other places to be. She was still smiling as she looked down at him, and this time he knew it was genuine. 

“It was good seeing you again, Peter. Take care of yourself. And give our love to MJ.”

Peter was still putting his phone away somewhere safe, and just when he was going to wish her a farewell he stumbled over something she’d said. 

“...‘Our’?”

Felicia looked back at him over her shoulder and, after she checked no one else was looking, lowered her sunglasses over the bridge of her nose. He was expecting to see green under fluttering lashes, or maybe blue. Not the pure white crescents, ringed with thin black veins that he hadn’t even noticed, that symbiotes were so known for. One of them winked at him just before she covered them up again. 

The symbiote was with her the whole time. He’d been speaking to  _ both  _ of them. Not only that, she’d been watching him through its-  _ hers  _ eyes. That wasn’t what kept him staring after them though, long after the white tresses disappeared into the NYC chaos around them all.

_ ‘...I’m gonna have to pay for all their drinks, aren’t I?’ _

He received his answer when the waitress returned with a bill that was longer than the plate it came on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking of doing a part 2 at some point and since this fic has a decent amount of kudos I figured there was enough incentive for one ASAP (also potentially setting up another fic in the future hehe)
> 
> EDIT: I should mention that Mary Jane isn't so suspicious/antagonistic towards Venom or Eddie since I figure that due to the events of One More Day (ugh), she and Pete were never married when Venom first appeared. Therefore, Venom had no reason to go after her so she was spared from being traumatised by him in this timeline.

“Can you  _ believe _ her, MJ? I mean, seriously?” Peter had been home for ten minutes now, and was only just getting to taking his shoes off as he told Mary Jane all about the stage play he’d ended up starring in that only someone like Felicia could have directed. The whole thing still felt like a fever dream, even with her number in his phone and his wallet left a whole lot lighter from having to pay for inviting her out in the first place. Only by telling MJ, one of the last remaining precious sources of sanity he had left in his life, every single detail did it feel like any of it could be solidified in his head, and only then could he try and make sense of it. 

“Leaving you with the bill? Yes, actually, I can believe it. In fact, I’d be surprised if she didn’t.” MJ didn’t look up from the magazine that she’d quickly switched over to when she first saw him coming home, so he wouldn’t see her reading the same newspaper Felicia had brought along with her (Peter had caught the glimpse of the familiar front page anyway, though). 

“Not  _ that _ ,” Peter protested, though maybe he did mean that just a little cause he was planning to get a new camera with some of that money. “I mean… letting the symbiote bond to her! Hell, even Eddie  _ letting  _ it be with  _ anyone  _ else is… God, it’s unthinkable. Least, I  _ thought _ it was unthinkable… which is really ironic.” He’d really thought that with all the shit he’d seen in his illustrious spandex-lined career- humanoid lizards, humanoid spiders, his own clone, a magician with a fishbowl on his head, a guy with eight legs who wouldn’t stop trying to put the moves on his aunt ( _ ugh _ )- he’d seen everything there was to see. He’d thought he’d  _ finally _ reached the peak of desensitisation, at least until a new cosmic entity came along trying to devour the multiverse or something. 

And then Felicia had to go and make out with Venom. 

She just  _ had  _ to go and make herself happy, and have him forced to listen to Jameson every single week both denouncing and demanding more pictures of the two to slap on every and any page they’d fit on. 

She just  _ had _ to go and fall in love with the worst person that wasn’t him.

“He must really trust her.” There was a flap of film as MJ turned her page, waiting patiently for him to reach the end of his rambling rant. She didn’t usually say much whenever she was listening to him vent. She had that amazing ability to absorb whatever was thrown at her- rejection, jealousy, the fear of death from whoever Spidey’s latest mortal enemy was this time- and turn it into something useful. Peter didn’t think she even had to try. She just sat and listened, and by the time she was ready to speak she knew exactly what to say to make everything seem okay. 

And she had a point. Eddie must have trusted Felicia more than anyone else on the planet to let her walk around with his reason for living swimming around her veins. The fact that he’d trust  _ anyone  _ human was a huge improvement for someone like him. It was a  _ good  _ thing. Good! But, even so... 

He sat down next to MJ, with an exhausted sigh that sank him far back into the sofa. “I’m not crazy, right?” He looked over at her without the strength to raise his head up. “I mean, I’m not the bad guy here for thinking Eddie is... bad news?” It was a moment of absolutely having to hear something that should have been obvious from someone else, from a voice that wasn’t stuck in his own head. Like his spider-senses going off for seemingly no reason, and him needing someone else to tell him where the danger was. 

MJ looked up from her magazine, at last, and tilted her head towards his. Her hair fell like a crimson shroud across her shoulders, and he had to stop himself reaching out for it. “Of course not, honey,” she assured. Only then did Peter let himself feel relief. 

“Thank you-”

“But I do think you’re wrong about him.”

“What?” His neck stiffened instantly, almost giving him whiplash as his head shot up to look over at her properly. She’d went right back to reading, shrugging as she turned the page once again. 

“Felicia would know him better than either of us, like she told you,” she reminded him. “And she’s not stupid. If she says he’s changed, and she’s willing to back that up by having his symbiote on her, then I’m inclined to believe her.”

“You’re supposed to be on  _ my _ side, MJ! Not cool!” Talking about your last ex to your girlfriend was usually a lot more awkward than this, and Peter was starting to wonder if he’d prefer it that way.

“I’m just saying.” MJ’s eyes followed him as he forced himself back onto his feet. “Is it really so hard to believe that someone would change for someone they love?”

Peter faced the window of their apartment, the big one that looked right across Manhattan and that always blinded him with the sunrise when he came home late and fell asleep on the couch. He couldn’t tell if she was talking about him, or herself. Maybe both. How much had they both changed, in all the time they knew each other? And how much would someone like Eddie be  _ willing _ to change, for someone like Felicia? 

If he really loved Felicia as much as Pete loved MJ now… then again, Felicia wasn’t the only one involved in the equation.

“Yeah, okay, you’ve got a point,” Pete admitted, turning away from the window to lean back against the wall. “But we’re talking about a guy who’s also in love with alien slime who tried to possess me without my consent.” The symbiote had always been Eddie’s other love, and look at how he’d changed for it… for her?

“Love is a strange thing,” MJ sighed, with another shrug that made her hair bounce and Peter’s hopes drop even lower. 

“That’s a cop-out and you know it.”

“But it’s still true.” With that, Pete knew that he’d reached the end of MJ’s well of wisdom for today. God, he swore every woman in his life was ganging up on him. Even May would probably have told him to stay out of things that weren’t his business, which he’d usually agree with. But if his ex and his mortal enemy dating  _ wasn’t  _ his business, then what was?! 

“What are you really so scared of, Pete?” MJ abandoned her magazine, leaning forward to grab for his wrist to stop him pacing back and forth- something he hadn’t even noticed he’d been doing. “You’ve talked to Felicia, you’ve heard her point of view, she’s told you herself that she’s fine, but you’re still pacing around like the whole city is gonna explode if you stand still.” She let go of him before he could take her hand into his, and the empty space around his twitching fingers felt like the buildup of static in his brain that filled the air as it leaked out from his ears. His own sigh, a dead drone stuck in his throat, almost set off his senses from its weight. 

“Some days, it feels like it really will…”

“Come here, tiger.” His wrist was taken again, and this time MJ didn’t let go. Instead she pulled, tugging him down next to her where he belonged. Where he could just lie down and think, and bask in the warmth of her body. His head fit into the nape of her neck, cushioned by the cascade of silky hair that always covered both their pillows come morning, yet never tangled. Not unless he did it deliberately, wreathing his fingers through and twirling strands around them. He’d seen aliens and mutants with hair like MJ’s, the same scarlet shade, but none of them ever came close to having her soft shine. Because none of them were MJ. It took him far too long to figure that out for himself. There was only one MJ, and there was only one woman he could be with. A perfect coincidence. 

But, in MJ’s case, there were two men she was stuck with; Peter Parker, and Spider-Man. Years and years of experience with both of them left her with an expectation that Spidey’s problems were her problems, and that she should be allowed to help. Even if it just meant giving him her shoulder and letting him get his thoughts out. But now that they were out, he struggled to get anything out of them. The making-sense stage, the one that gave both him and Spidey the biggest headaches.

He’d always had trouble telling how much of what he’d become, of what he was now, was just bits and pieces of Spider-Man bleeding through, and how much of it was good or bad. It always felt like the best version of himself, of anyone, was still years in the making. Some took more time to reach that point than others, but that didn’t make them any less human. 

That was what Spider-Man was supposed to help do. He wasn’t a police officer or a soldier. He was a peacekeeper. He was a  _ hero _ . He had to believe that everyone he knew, everyone from super villains locked up in Rykers’ to the latest petty thief driven to crime, was capable of making that kind of improvement to themselves. The only real difference between him and them was that he was lucky enough to have a head start. 

It wasn’t too late for Eddie. He’d meant what he said to Felicia. He  _ hoped  _ she was right about him, whether or not it meant he was proven wrong, because it meant that everything Spider-Man had worked for was actually worth something. Something more than just coming home battered and bruised to tell the love of his life all about who tried to kill him this time. 

Heh. For all he knew, that was exactly what Eddie himself was doing. 

“What do you think, MJ? About all of this?” He hadn’t said anything else, but he could tell she was thinking too from how her distracted hand combed lightly through his hair. Drawing her own conclusions, which could be so wildly different from his own that he’d wonder if he was ever on the right path at all. She went still, before he found her looking down at him. 

“I think Felicia’s finally found someone to love who isn’t you,” she said, “and that’s good enough for me.”

Peter couldn’t help but laugh as he sank into her lap, his head lying back against her thighs as he looked up at her. “What can I say? I’m very easy to love." 

She laughed back in agreement, even as she traced an old scar on his cheek from someone trying to prove otherwise. “Not everyone needs you to save them, y’know. Try and take that as a good thing.” 

There was that word again.  _ Good _ . What the hell did it even mean nowadays, when villains were being treated like celebrities with their own paparazzi? Never mind that that was a pretty rich complaint coming from him. 

“Cause it means less work for me, right?” he asked, trying to not think of how hypocritical he could be, much more interested in MJ’s face hovering over him. How beautiful her smile was, especially when he was the one who gave her it.

“Yes,” she said, still cupping his face with a soft palm. “And less work means more time for you  _ and  _ me.”

How could he argue with that? The answer was, not at all, especially when her lips came down to meet his. Silenced once again by his need for affection! What a fate to behold.

But even with a kiss from the most beautiful woman in the world, he  _ still _ felt the static buzzing in his head, thrumming through his jaw when he unclenched it. Like his brain was trying to search for a channel that didn’t exist. 

Why did he have to feel guilty over just trying to make things right? Why did he have to keep worrying so much when Felicia was a grown woman clearly making her own decisions, as ill-advised as they might have been? He’d have told himself it was the fear of Felicia being twisted by Venom the same way Eddie was, but considering how much she used to hate him anyway he’d have said her new self was an improvement. Three months was plenty of time for the symbiote to poison Felicia against him, and it hadn’t happened. The symbiote allegedly didn’t even hate him anymore. Was that Felicia’s own influence working its way back? The bond was a two-way street, from what he remembered Flash saying. Both symbiote and host can give and take- the more equal the share, the better the bond. 

So either all three of them really would bring out the best they had to offer... or they’d be trapped in a vicious neurochemical cycle of dependency and brainwashing. Which wasn’t really likely- this was Felicia, after all, the woman who could turn her heart on and off like a switch…

Which was precisely why he was so sure everything would go horribly wrong. It was like his senses were predicting a nuclear explosion, the vibrations through his veins. 

“It’s not just that I’m worried Eddie is gonna hurt her. It’s… the other way ‘round, too.”

MJ tilted her head, and from his point-of-view it looked like it was trying to roll off her shoulders. “You think Felicia will hurt  _ him _ ?”

“I think she  _ could,  _ very easily.” He met her eyes, staying afloat above them as he thought about Felicia’s worst moments, about the fires  _ she’d  _ caused that he had to work so hard put out. “Remember how she was with Flash? She  _ used _ him, my friend, to get back at me for leaving her. That’s all he was to her. And… I’m worried part of the reason she’s with Eddie is cause she knows how much it gets under my skin. And once Eddie outlives his usefulness...” 

MJ finished the grim sentence for him. “She’ll break his heart, and you’ll have a very upset Venom causing a rampage all over the city that you’ll need to clean up.” 

And that was only the best case scenario. The worst was that at least one person would get killed. Maybe Felicia, maybe not. 

“I don’t want to think that she’s still like that,” he said quietly, reaching for MJ’s hand to stroke his thumb across the back of it. “But… every time I think I know her, she turns around and becomes someone else. It’s like a mutant superpower or something. Like... she’s two or three different people all fighting over the same body.” Like it was pure luck whether or not you found her in a reasonable state, which was enough for Peter to actually believe. 

“Or,” MJ suggested, “maybe you’ve just never came that close to knowing who she really is. Maybe Venom is the only one who’s managed it.” 

If Peter had been pacing, he would have been frozen still. As he was, all he did was look away from her, wondering whether or not he wanted her to be right. “Maybe…”

“Okay, what about this.” she rearranged herself, forcing Peter to raise his head for a second before she let him pillow himself on her lap once again. “If the whole thing is really just a con to her, then letting the symbiote in too is a bit extreme even for her, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, but…” Peter actually did freeze this time, blinking as his tendons went stiff. 

The symbiote. 

That was what was different this time. 

They  _ both  _ had the symbiote.

The static was clearing, the roar of his blood flushing it out with a dawn of realisation that was much brighter this time.

“Actually, yeah. Yeah… the symbiote would be able to tell if Felicia was up to something, right? So the fact that it’s willing to bond with her…” He shot upright, and grabbed MJ’s shoulders with a grin. “That’s it, MJ! She really  _ does  _ love him! You’re a genius!”

“Glad I could help!” she called after him as he went rushing to the kitchen.

“I’m gonna give her a call!” he announced, grabbing his phone from the table where he’d thrown it aside as soon as he got through the front door. He’d hear for himself that she  _ wasn’t  _ the manipulative 4D-chess-playing monster capable of destroying the whole city that he was terrified of.

“Probably a bad idea,” MJ said while he was already scrolling for Felicia’s number. “But I won’t stop you.”

She picked up after three tense rings. “Felicia!”

“ _ Half an hour, Pete. You went half an hour before you broke your promise.”  _ She didn’t sound surprised, just tired. 

“Well, hey, it’s kind of my job to keep people safe,” he pointed out, riding a wave of giddiness from finally confirming that Black Cat wouldn’t be an issue for Spider-Man  _ or _ Peter Parker. “You can’t blame me for wanting to check in.”

He could practically hear her rolling her eyes.  _ “Is MJ there?” _

“Uh, yeah, she is.”

_ “Put her on.” _

Peter blinked in confusion, but did as he was told. “She wants to talk to you,” he said as he handed the phone to MJ. She looked equally as confused, but took it without further comment. 

“Hey, Felicia, it’s been a while. I’m doing fine, how’re you? Yeah, he’s still here. Really?” A smile was starting to grow on her face, and it was nothing like the one she’d had before. “Uh 

huh. Uh huh… y’know, I like the sound of that. Pete, are you free next Friday?”

Peter felt like he should come up with an excuse for some reason. He  _ really _ didn’t like that smile. “Uh… I think so? Why-?”

“We’ll be there,” MJ told Felicia. “You take care!” Then she hung up, and Peter was left thinking he’d made a horrible mistake.

“What was that about...?”

MJ looked at him with another shrug. “She just wanted to catch up.” She resettled herself in her comfortable reading position, grabbing for her magazine. “Oh, and we’re going on a double date next week.”

“ _ What?! _ ” He had to sit down, on a different seat away from her, as his heart fell out from under his feet. Or maybe that was his brain, finally ejecting from his skull. It was one of those. It didn’t feel good. 

“Well, technically a 5-way date,” she corrected herself, “since the symbiote will be there too. I think it’ll be fun. And it’ll show you that Eddie can go one day without trying to murder you.” She sounded so confident that that wasn’t exactly what would happen when they showed up.

_ ‘Five way date,’ _ he told to himself, not daring to say it out loud cause then it would be true. _ ‘...5D chess. God dammit, Felicia.’ _

He started thinking of who among his villains could put him in hospital before Friday. 


End file.
